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BBVA launches Wallet app in Turkey as downloads pass the one million mark

12 November 2015

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BBVA is to launch its mobile payment app in Turkey as the Spanish bank reveals more than one million downloads of the Wallet application in the two years since its launch.

Already available in four countries, the app is being launched this week in Turkey by Garanti Bank - in which BBVA has a nearly 40% stake - under the BonusFlas brand.

Customers can use the app to make contactless payments on the high street, apply for in-app loans to fund purchases and turn cards on and off for certain transactions or if a card is lost or stolen.

The Turkish launch will also come with additional features, including the ability to enrol in loyalty programmes in-app, increase credit limits and receive retailer offers based on geolocation

BBVA says the total number of Wallet downloads at the end of Q3 2015 stood at 1.057 million. Spain had 850,000 downloads, while Mexico (Bancomer) had 164 000, just three months after a July launch. Chile (BBVA Chile) and the US (BBVA Compass) are at a very early stage at 36,000 and 7,000 respectively.

Nonetheless, BBVA now forecasts that the Wallet app will be downloaded at least five million times by the end of 2016. In Q3 2015, Wallet was downloaded 358,000 times, compared to 87,000 in 2014 - a 311% increase.

Mehmet Sezgin, global head of payments for BBVA, says: ‘With over 80% of the world’s payments still in cash, we believe there’s a big opportunity to move from 1 to 5 million downloads by the end of 2016. I firmly believe that people using plastic will be in a minority by 2020. As the only bank operating digital wallets in five countries around the world, we are at the forefront of the major transformation from plastic to mobile’.